Contemporary | Kappazuri/Stencil Print
Hiromitsu Takahashi’s 1987 stencil print “お七 A” (Oshichi A) portrays the kabuki onnagata of Yaoya Oshichi standing before a stark black ladder, her crimson & cerulean kimono/uchikake rendered in vivid kappazuri pigments on fibrous washi paper. The dynamic composition and bold colour palette capture the poignant drama of her ill-fated act. 🎭🔥.
- Year & Edition: 1987 · Ed. of 50 (21/50) (signed “Hiromitsu” in pencil lower right).
- Medium: Kappazuri/Stencil.
- Dimensions: Sheet H: 50.75 cm × W: 40.75 cm.
- Condition: Lovely; vibrant colour; image unmarked; paper clean, crisp & intact - light toning to margin previously framed.
- Notes: Yaoya Oshichi (八百屋お七, 1667-1683) is a celebrated figure in Japanese kabuki and bunraku drama. After her home was destroyed by fire in Edo (1682), she fell in love with Kichisaburō at a temple but, heartbroken upon returning home, set fire to her neighbourhood in hopes of reuniting with him. Arrested for arson, she was executed at Suzugamori in 1683. Ukiyo-e masters have long depicted her beside ladders or fire-tower bells - symbols of her desperate actions - and Takahashi’s modern stencil echo these emotive scenes. 大経寺 Daikyo-ji Temple and the Suzugamori execution ground ruins mark the real-world sites of her tragic fate (daikyoji.jp).





